I have a pond that is full of crayfish, but has no other species in it. I have wondered if it would sustain a population of bass due to the water quality. The pond is absolutely loaded with crayfish- does that mean the water quality is good? I was worried about pesticides or ferilizer from a neighboring park affecting the water quality.

You'll get some good info from the guys on the Ponds, Tanks and Private Waters section of this forum.

Thank You. I didnt even realize there was a section for that.

Yes,

Lots of crayfish is an excellent indicator of good water quality...thats the good news....but crayfish alone won't support bass for very long. The bass will clean them out relatively quickly.

You will need other forage to support the bass and bluegill is a good choice to supply that forage for most ponds.

Come back and visit this section often.

Thanks. Maybe I will start the pond with some bluegill. I know there a lot of guppies in it already. Then this fall add a dozen bass and see how they fare.

I believe I would hold off. Stocking bluegills or anything else in the summer is a pretty chancy deal. I would PERSONALLY recommend waiting a year after stocking forage before adding bass.

Guys like Dave are why you should come back often to this section!!

I never have the patience to wait a year on bass like Dave.

I like to stock BG in the fall and find fingerling bass in the following June for stocking. Works for me...and if you want to spice it up a little add some Tilapia next spring. I've raised fingerling bass to 2 to 2.5 pounds in one year with that approach.

Good advice for Dave, Meadowlark. The tilapia are the bomb!

i put two 14-1/2" bass in there tonight to test the waters. i hadnt read this in awhile, so I didnt know I should have waited. ooops. I will post what happens to them

I doubt that 2 fish will clobber your pond. However, they will make a dent in any bluegill that you stock. I don't stock anything in hot water.

My normal recommendation is this: Stock bass when they can go to sleep with their mouth open and wake up with a full belly. Meadowlark cheats by stocking tilapia to take pressure of the bluegill forage base. That works but bass need food that is 1/4 to 1/3 their length and it takes 10 pounds of forage for a bass to gain 1 pound. It takes about 5 pounds to maintain their present size but they can't grow. That's why we stock forage before predators. Give tilapia a month head start and they can make a difference.

Larry, stocking is about the only thing that I have learned to be patient on. BTW, I finally stocked some tilapia for myself this year. So far, the only result that I've seen is some tilapia that are growing like mad. I stocked them late and couldn't get but about 5 pounds of larger fish. However, since the 1 acre pond is becoming a 1/2 acre, I figure that ought to be enough.

Problem I have seen with tilapia when cold weather die off occurs if you dont have enough large fish in the pond to consume the dying fish, have seen heavy organic load that puts a strain on the dissolved oxygen in the pond. Dosent happen all the time but when it does can cause oxygen depletion and you can loose the whole pond.